Joel R. McConvey
The UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has published key findings from a review of what role money mules play in enabling fraud, praising firms that use biometric-based safeguards for verification in onboarding, monitoring, and reporting, and pushing for more advanced biometric tools.
The report follows on the government’s Economic Crime Plan and Fraud Strategy, which identify money mules – persons recruited by criminals to carry illegally obtained money – as “integral to moving proceeds of fraud and other crime types,” and recommend a “focus on disrupting mule activity and protecting the public.”
“Fraud currently accounts for 40 percent of all crime” in the UK, says a summary of the FCA report. “We have observed some firms establish proportionate approaches that use innovative solutions including facial recognition systems, device profiling and geolocation. However, despite these efforts, not all firms are responding with the same focus, and some firms need to do more to tackle the problem.”
-